Journal

Marrakech, craft & modern wear

Stories from the YZA atelier: raffia, Jawhara, fruit charms, basket bags and the women of Guéliz.

Why Handmade Raffia Costs More Than a Souvenir Bag Craft & materials

Journal

Marrakech, histoires & savoir-faire

Atelier

Les mains de Guéliz

Une matinée à l'atelier - le café qui passe, le raphia qui glisse entre les doigts de Fatima, 37 ans de métier. Un fruit prend forme, puis un autre. Plus de mains, moins de machines.

Fruit Market

Pourquoi des fruits ?

L'étal du souk, le panier posé près de la porte, l'orange qu'on partage après le déjeuner. Chez nous, la couleur est une langue - et la vie est plus colorée à Marrakech.

Style

Porter le raphia

Du panier de plage à la robe du soir - trois façons d'accrocher le fruit que Fatima crochète à la main. Sur l'anse, au poignet, à l'épaule : à toi de l'adopter.

Choose the doubt

What are you wondering?

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Stories that explain the price, the hand, and the feeling.

Why Handmade Raffia Costs More Than a Souvenir Bag - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

Why Handmade Raffia Costs More Than a Souvenir Bag

Beside a market straw bag, a handmade raffia piece can look the same. It isn't. The value lives in Fatima's hands - the tension, the finishing, the hours over days - and in an object you keep, not a souvenir you forget.

4 min read
La Sculpture: Inside YZA’s New It Bag - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

La Sculpture: Inside YZA’s New It Bag

La Sculpture is the bag we keep reaching for in our Guéliz studio - woven banana leaf and raffia, curved handles, beaded front, made by hand by Fatima and the women of the atelier.

3 min read
Fruit Charms: Tiny Postcards from Marrakech - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

Fruit Charms: Tiny Postcards from Marrakech

Our raffia fruit charms are tiny postcards from Marrakech - a lemon slice, a handful of cherries, a whole orange, crocheted by Fatima in our Guéliz atelier to clip onto a bag, a basket, a keyring.

4 min read
What Is Jawhara Fabric? - YZA Journal

Resortwear

What Is Jawhara Fabric?

Jawhara - also written Johara - is the striped, often silk-based eastern textile behind our resortwear. Caftan memory, reworked for movement and summer.

3 min read

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Thirty ways to understand YZA.

Why Handmade Raffia Costs More Than a Souvenir Bag - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

Why Handmade Raffia Costs More Than a Souvenir Bag

Beside a market straw bag, a handmade raffia piece can look the same. It isn't. The value lives in Fatima's hands - the tension, the finishing, the hours over days - and in an object you keep, not a souvenir you forget.

4 min read
How to Recognize Quality in a Moroccan Basket Bag - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

How to Recognize Quality in a Moroccan Basket Bag

A good basket bag should look right from across the room and make even more sense in your hand. I'll show you what we watch for in our Guéliz atelier - the edge, the handle, the way it holds its shape.

4 min read
La Sculpture: Inside YZA’s New It Bag - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

La Sculpture: Inside YZA’s New It Bag

La Sculpture is the bag we keep reaching for in our Guéliz studio - woven banana leaf and raffia, curved handles, beaded front, made by hand by Fatima and the women of the atelier.

3 min read
La Nouvelle Vague: The Basket Bag Built for Longevity - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

La Nouvelle Vague: The Basket Bag Built for Longevity

La Nouvelle Vague is our softer, travel-minded basket bag - woven banana leaf and raffia, beads worked over leather so the prettiest part is also the strongest. From our women-run atelier in Guéliz.

3 min read
What Fits in a YZA Basket Bag? - YZA Journal

Bag guides

What Fits in a YZA Basket Bag?

A basket bag should hold your day, not just complete your outfit. Here is what slips into ours at each size - phone, keys, a book, a pareo - woven by hand in our Guéliz atelier.

3 min read
Fruit Charms: Tiny Postcards from Marrakech - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

Fruit Charms: Tiny Postcards from Marrakech

Our raffia fruit charms are tiny postcards from Marrakech - a lemon slice, a handful of cherries, a whole orange, crocheted by Fatima in our Guéliz atelier to clip onto a bag, a basket, a keyring.

4 min read
How to Style Raffia Fruit Charms on Any Bag - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

How to Style Raffia Fruit Charms on Any Bag

A fruit charm should feel chosen, not added. Fatima crochets ours by hand in raffia in our Guéliz atelier - here is how a lemon slice or a cluster of grapes can make any bag your own.

4 min read
How to Care for Raffia Bags, Charms and Earrings - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

How to Care for Raffia Bags, Charms and Earrings

How we look after raffia, banana leaf, beads and crochet in our Marrakech atelier - keep a bag dry and shaped, clean it gently, and a hand-made piece will stay with you for years.

3 min read
What Is Jawhara Fabric? - YZA Journal

Resortwear

What Is Jawhara Fabric?

Jawhara - also written Johara - is the striped, often silk-based eastern textile behind our resortwear. Caftan memory, reworked for movement and summer.

3 min read
YZA Wrap Pants: A Local Moroccan Style Reimagined - YZA Journal

Resortwear

YZA Wrap Pants: A Local Moroccan Style Reimagined

Our wrap pants are a Marrakchi shape reborn - one length of cloth that ties to your body, moves like a skirt, walks like a trouser. Here is how I wear them, from atelier morning to golden hour.

3 min read
Best Handmade Gifts from Marrakech: What to Bring Home - YZA Journal

Craft & materials

Best Handmade Gifts from Marrakech: What to Bring Home

A handmade gift from Marrakech should be easy to carry, easy to explain, and personal enough to feel chosen. In our Guéliz studio we crochet fruit charms, fruit earrings and small basket bags - colour you can hold.

3 min read
The Marrakech Resort Wear Packing Guide - YZA Journal

Bag guides

The Marrakech Resort Wear Packing Guide

A few pieces, packed lightly, that do more than one thing. One base colour, one hero bottom, a woven basket bag and a raffia fruit charm - a small suitcase that travels everywhere.

3 min read
Why YZA Is Not Just a Souvenir from Marrakech - YZA Journal

Fruit Market

Why YZA Is Not Just a Souvenir from Marrakech

A souvenir remembers a trip. A YZA piece keeps going with you. Our charms, bags and Jawhara resort wear are made by hand in our Guéliz atelier to live in your wardrobe, not a drawer.

3 min read

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